Episode 11: The Madness of King Don - a journey to the dark side of charisma, with Drew Westen
Eminent US psychologist Drew Westen discusses Donald Trump's many psychopathologies.
Eminent US psychologist Drew Westen discusses Donald Trump's many psychopathologies.
In the aftermath of the US presidential election, Rafael Behr talks to Professor Drew Westen about different forms of charisma, the struggle to communicate liberal arguments to Republican voters and the symptoms of severe personality disorder exhibited by Donald Trump.
Drew Westen is a professor in the Psychology and Psychiatry Department at Emory University, Atlanta Georgia. He is also a political consultant and author of the highly influential book "The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation."
Our podcast was recently chosen by Feedspot as one of the best 15 English-speaking political science podcasts in the world
Rafael Behr is a political columnist for the Guardian. He is a former Political Editor for the New Statesman, Chief Leader Writer and Online Editor for The Observer, a business news reporter for BBC online and a foreign correspondent for the Financial Times, based in the Baltic region and Russia. Rafael is a regular contributor to Prospect Magazine, a guest on BBC and Sky News and a speaker at UK think tanks. His book, Politics, A Survivor’s Guide, is published by Atlantic. He hosts the Politics on the Couch podcast. Before becoming a journalist, Rafael was a political risk analyst covering countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He studied modern languages Merton College, Oxford and took a Master’s degree in Russian Studies at the School for Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London. He lives in Brighton with his family. He plays the guitar and harmonica, sometimes simultaneously, not always melodiously.
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